[BlackOmega]

Well I finally broke down and put together an i7 rig.

Here's the specs so far:

i7 920 D0 (stock heatsink for now)
Evga x58 3x sli
3 x 1GB OCZ Gold 1333
2 x Evga 9600 GSO 768 mb GDDR3 (for kicks and giggles)
1x WD 250Gb SE16
PCP&C 750w
Win XP pro 32bit

I was just kind of messing around with this thing a little bit and rating it's performance, which it's fast, but here the odd thing. When I checked the CPU speed, it was @ 2267MHz. So I go in to the BIOS and see that the multiplier is at 17x, with a base clock of 133. So I raise it to 20x and get the desired 2660 MHz.
So just to see how it would perform at stock clocks I ran 3dm06. It did fairly well, a little over 15,900. When I look at the results screen I noticed it said the CPU was at 2853.. SO I'm like

. Check the BIOS to make sure speedstep was disabled, which it was.
So then I rerun 3dm06 and get a result of 15411. Once again on the results page I see that it says the CPU was at 2753MHz. Why isn't the little OC it gives consistent?

FWIW, I downloaded realtemp and none of my cores ever went above 60C.

Also, does anyone know of a GOOD guide to ocing the i7? Something that'll explain with some detail what each setting does.

 

[compuman145]

That's the turbo boost on the processor doing that.

You'll need to disable that in the bios as well.

Comps

EDIT I was thinking of the 930 not the 920. Multiplier is 20

 

[Astonished]

You should turn Turbo Mode off.
Although I don't any experience OC'ing I7's, but here is a good guide that has some detail.

 

[compuman145]

An i7 on stock cooling and stock voltages will hit 3.4 easily.

Check to make sure that you're not breaching 70c on full load. Also are you going to get an aftermarket cooler?

EDIT - if you go into CPU features you have the Turbo mode function, disable that.

 

[BlackOmega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astonished You should turn Turbo Mode off. Although I don't any experience OC'ing I7's, but here is a good guide that has some detail.

Thanks Astonished. I was looking at that one. It does have some detail but not quite as detailed as I'd like it to be. I'm a very detail oriented person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuman145 An i7 on stock cooling and stock voltages will hit 3.4 easily. Check to make sure that you're not breaching 70c on full load. Also are you going to get an aftermarket cooler?

I have a Xiggy DK sitting right in front of me with the 1366 attachments on it.

The i7 rig is in a temporary home until I get everything ready for it (been messing around with slipstreaming an install disc that has RAID drivers on it) , then it's going in my CM590.

And how come 70C, I thought max was 100C

 

[compuman145]

I would never let my proc hit 100c. I'd say 75c at a push, and I mean a REAL push. If you are hitting 75c you'll have a clock of about 4ghz with an aftermarket cooler.

Are you slip streaming drivers into an XP install. You'll need to use NLite for that. If you need a hand give me a shout and i'll write up a guide.

Comps

 

[gtarmanrob]

fyi i leave turbo function on as my CPU has more success with a 21x multi than 20x but each chip/board is different. that guide linked above, i swear by it. great guide.

 

[compuman145]

Personally i'd run with turbo off and with a set multi of 21 (I'm sure you can force it to use 21)

 

[gtarmanrob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuman145 Personally i'd run with turbo off and with a set multi of 21 (I'm sure you can force it to use 21)

nope, the 920 is a locked multi, max is 20x. before i read the guide above i was having heaps of trouble with a 20x multi. even in that guide, the OP says that turbo on is a good idea coz a 20x is really hard to use for a 4ghz clock.

 

[compuman145]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob nope, the 920 is a locked multi, max is 20x

I have no idea why 21 keeps popping into my head, might be the fact that its 3am and i'm bush whacked.

 

[gtarmanrob]

haha. dunno mate. the i7 860 is a default 21x, 22x with turbo? maybe you are mixing the two up?

 

[BlackOmega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuman145 I would never let my proc hit 100c. I'd say 75c at a push, and I mean a REAL push. If you are hitting 75c you'll have a clock of about 4ghz with an aftermarket cooler. Are you slip streaming drivers into an XP install. You'll need to use NLite for that. If you need a hand give me a shout and i'll write up a guide. Comps

Yep doing the XP slipstream. First attempt failed, but I think I finally figured out what I need to put in and where. This last one I got XP, sp3, and the ICH10R RAID drivers. I'm hoping it'll work. I'm going to try it later after I free up a couple of drives.

I'll probably never let it hit 75C, I know intels run hotter but going above 65C makes me nervous. Hell on my AM3 going above 50C makes me nervous (which it very rarely does).

And 4GHz sounds nice

. I wonder if I'll be able to break 20k with these GSO's, and maybe..... get over 40FPS in Crysis completely maxed with 8xAA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob fyi i leave turbo function on as my CPU has more success with a 21x multi than 20x but each chip/board is different. that guide linked above, i swear by it. great guide.

How much does yours fluctuate with turbo enabled? The only thing that bothers me about it is its inconsistency.

 

[compuman145]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob haha. dunno mate. the i7 860 is a default 21x, 22x with turbo? maybe you are mixing the two up?

Yeah, probably

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackOmega Yep doing the XP slipstream. First attempt failed, but I think I finally figured out what I need to put in and where. This last one I got XP, sp3, and the ICH10R RAID drivers. I'm hoping it'll work. I'm going to try it later after I free up a couple of drives. I'll probably never let it hit 75C, I know intels run hotter but going above 65C makes me nervous. Hell on my AM3 going above 50C makes me nervous (which it very rarely does). And 4GHz sounds nice . I wonder if I'll be able to break 20k with these GSO's, and maybe..... get over 40FPS in Crysis completely maxed with 8xAA. How much does yours fluctuate with turbo enabled? The only thing that bothers me about it is its inconsistency.

If you need a hand with the slipstream then give me a shout, it can be a bit fiddly when you do it. As I said before though, if you can do the drivers without having to splice the service pack in as well its one less thing to go wrong.

Comps

 

[CDMAN]

Here you go. Good luck.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=20028

 

[BlackOmega]

Well unfortunately due to the x58 chipset limitations, the install disk needs to be at least service pack 2. My install disk is SP1. So I figured I'll just put 3 on it and forget about it.

I got one disk working with just XP install and SP3 so I know that it works. Hopefully the RAID drivers will work too.

EDIT:

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDMAN Here you go. Good luck. http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=20028

Thank you very much sir.

 

[gtarmanrob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlackOmega How much does yours fluctuate with turbo enabled? The only thing that bothers me about it is its inconsistency.

sorry? not sure what you mean. what fluctuates? i have turbo on and the multi manually set to 21x. doesnt move.

 

[BlackOmega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob sorry? not sure what you mean. what fluctuates? i have turbo on and the multi manually set to 21x. doesnt move.

My CPU frequency. Here's what I mean.

When I check CPUz on the desktop it says I run @ 2653MHz. Yet when I run 3Dm06, it just ups itself to 2778 MHz. Then when I get back to the desktop it's still reporting @ 2653.

Mind you speedstep, CxE, and turbo boost are all disabled in the BIOS. The only one that enabled is the "Execute Disabled Bit".

Here's what I mean:

 

[gtarmanrob]

ok i think i know what you mean and the answer that i've come to is, Windows does not recognise that your CPU multiplier is on turbo. it recognises the chip as a default 20x multi for example, in my case. so for me, 3dmark reports 3.8ghz whenin actual fact, im running 4ghz.

but if i do my BCLK x 20multi it equals 3.8ghz.

i think its just a thing with Windows and programs reading the chip and not the BIOS i guess. or something. but yeah, Windows basically reads my clock like im running a 20x multi. but Everest, CoreTemp, all those apps read it correctly.

 

[BlackOmega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob ok i think i know what you mean and the answer that i've come to is, Windows does not recognise that your CPU multiplier is on turbo. it recognises the chip as a default 20x multi for example, in my case. so for me, 3dmark reports 3.8ghz whenin actual fact, im running 4ghz. but if i do my BCLK x 20multi it equals 3.8ghz. i think its just a thing with Windows and programs reading the chip and not the BIOS i guess. or something. but yeah, Windows basically reads my clock like im running a 20x multi. but Everest, CoreTemp, all those apps read it correctly.

You're right, windows kept misreporting it for some reason. Then after windows update installed a bunch of updates, it seems to be reporting consistently now.

Yeah, I thought it was weird that it was just doing that especially with Speedstep, CxE, and virtualization disabled.

 

[gtarmanrob]

what updates? haha mine still resports it wrong. but oh well. i think a BIOS update may fix it but if not no biggie, i know im running 4ghz